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A LTAT-Deepak-Raja Ropiaah Deal that will hurt UMNO

A LTAT-Deepak-Raja Ropiaah Deal that will hurt UMNO

by Wong Choon Mei, Alaa Soleiman, Malaysia Chronicle

Vowing to defend the Armed Forces pension fund (LTAT) from being pilfered by top government leaders, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR party has demanded that the Najib administration come clean on a RM160million deal to buy back land belonging to the Ministry of Defence.

The PKR response follows news a day ago that a unit of the Armed Forces’ pension fund had agreed to pay RM30 million to a controversial businessman Deepak Jaikishan and RM130 million to a firm controlled by Raja Ropiaah, the Selangor Wanita UMNO chief (left).

“It is plain and simple that the RM30million to acquire 80% of Astacanggih (Deepak’s firm) and the RM130 million paid (to Raja Ropiaah’s firm) for almost non-existent land is clear abuse of power by Zahid Hamidi. I dare say that Najib had tasked Zahid to handle this by whatever means necessary,” Rafizi, a UK-trained auditor, told a press conference last Saturday.

“You can ask any investment or research analysts and they will tell you this is not good investment practice. So why does the federal government enter into such a bad investment. One can only conclude this is meant to silence Deepak and to close the entire issue.”

Outright bribery?

Deepak (right), once a close friend of Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, had in 2007 bought the land from Raja Ropiaah’s firm Awan Megah for about RM120million at RM12psf. But the deal has been “stuck” and the titles still not released to Astacanggih unit, Cebur Megah.

This resulted in Deepak suing Ropiaah and Awan Megah for specific performance and “criminal intent”, the Defense ministry as well as the land and mining office Pejabat Tanah dan Galian for not releasing the land titles to Cebur Megah.

Deepak also accused Ropiaah of ‘stealing’ and on-selling one of the three parcels of land to GuppyUnip Sdn Bhd at RM16psf. The case was heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court late last month, with Deepak personally taking the stand. It was adjourned to December 14 but deferred pending a settlement that Deepak has since insisted was “forced” on him and his firm.

“It is true that my shareholders and me have sold our shares in Asta Canggih for RM30 million which is our actual cost price of RM13 million for Raja Ropiaah, RM8 million in political contributions, RM7 million of financial costs and RM2 million in legal and miscellaneous costs. This was an ultimatum that was forced upon us,” Deepak said in a text message on Friday.

Protecting pension fund of Armed Forces

The business bickering culminated in Deepak squealing on the ‘dark hands’ behind the deal. He accused Najib’s family of accepting millions of ringgit for Najib’s abusing his authority in approving the deal.

Najib, who was then the Defense Minister, has still not made any response to the series of damning allegations despite mounting public disgust and pressure from his own political party.

Rafizi slammed Najib for refusing to account to the public and accused him of quietly conspiring with Zahid to enter into “such a dubious” deal that would clearly place the Defense Ministry’s pension fund in a disadvantaged position.

“The fact that behind the silence, such a transaction has been sewn up to silence Deepak indicates there must have been some truth in his accusations. Deepak’s disclosures must have frightened Najib so much that he has got Boustead to enter into this deal,” said Rafizi.

“It is very cheeky for the Prime Minister to instruct the Defense minister to do such a deal. In any other country, a public inquiry would have been called. PKR will do all it can to frustrate the deal as this involves the LTAT, the pension fund of the Defense Ministry. It has become ridiculous. You have already lost RM250mil to one Minister and now you are going to lose RM160 mil of pensioners’ money to another minister.”

Rafizi was referring to the RM250mil NFC cattle-breeding fiasco that the family of UMNO Wanita’s chief Shahrizat Jalil has been accused of being involved in.

Najib will have to win back Selangor for the deal to go through

In the Deepak-Ropiaah case, Rafizi pointed out that the land had never changed hands in the first place and questioned why the Defense Ministry was buying back its own land.

“PKR will write to the Selangor state government to stop this deal. Previously we kept quiet because we weren’t sure how true Deepak’s allegations were. But now, after the Boustand announcement to the Bursa, all the pieces are starting to fit together. At the recent UMNO General Assembly, Zahid said he would look into the matter and find a way to resolve it. After that, there was silence. We thought it was just Najib up to his usual ways of refusing to answer to the public. Then Boustead made their announcement yesterday,” said Rafizi.

“This is clearly a deal pulled together deliberately to keep Deepak quiet. But it doesn’t seem to be working. How can Zahid (right) imagine such a deal can work? It will require the green light from the state government because the land is in Selangor. Deepak is now saying he is not going to shut up because he got only RM30 million and Ropiaah received RM130 million. We say to Deepak, don’t worry. We will do our utmost to frustrate this deal because the pensioners’ money is involved. In fact, we need to thank Tan Sri Khalid for insisting on checking all the details and not allowing the transfer to go through.”

Rafizi agreed the title to the land would probably have changed hands by now if not for the Opposition winning control of the Selangor state government in the 2008 general election. According to Rafizi, if Najib wanted the deal to go through the only way was if “he wins back Selangor”.

The state is the richest and has the biggest economy of Malaysia’s 13 states. Najib has previously vowed to take back Selangor “at all costs”. The state is now led by PKR Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

Mindef unit paying RM160 million for land that still belongs to it

In a filing to the stock exchange, Boustead Holdings Bhd, a unit of LTAT, announced that its wholly-owned unit Bakti Wira Development Sdn Bhd had acquired an 80 per cent stake in Astacanggih Sdn Bhd for RM30 million.

Bakti Wira Development and Astacanggih also signed an agreement with Awan Megah earlier on Friday to acquire 80.94ha of freehold land in Klang, Selangor, for RM130 million. Describing the deal as an opportunity to expand its land bank, Boustead said the share purchase and land acquisition would be funded via bank borrowings and internally-generated funds.

“Moreover, the land was adjacent to 283.28ha of development land held under Jendela Hikmat Sdn Bhd, a company which the group and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera jointly holds 60 per cent equity interest. The demand for industrial land in this location has been on the uptrend with the completion of UMW’s latest storage and testing plant in Bukit Raja, Klang,” said Boustead.

Rafizi and Selangor Pakatan representatives will be scrutinizing the deal’s fine-print over the weekend and plan to hold another press conference on Monday. “In the afternoon, we will go with some of the pensioners to Bakti Wira’s office to inspect the documents. The pensioners have a right to know what happens to their money,” said Rafizi.

The Black Rose

So far, Ropiaah has not commented on the transaction. Previously, when contacted by Malaysia Chronicle, she had said she would refer Deepak’s allegations to her lawyers.

In his response to the Boustead announcement on Friday, Deepak vowed he would continue with his “revelations”. Deepak has not only exposed Najib’s hand in the Bukit Raja land deal but has revealed that both the Prime Minister and his wife Rosmah had asked him to “facilitate” the withdrawal of a damning statutory declaration made by a private investigator implicating Najib in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder and the Scorpenes corruption case.

Apparently, more and “hotter” scandals are due to be exposed to test the already embattled Najib, who has been facing tremendous pressure from within his own UMNO party to step down and pass the reins to his Deputy Muhyiddin Yassin before calling for general elections.

“The irony is that Raja Ropiaah who ‘stole’ the land from us was paid RM130 million, guess that is real power, isn’t it?” said Deepak, who in a text message to Malaysia Chronicle promised to push on with his tell-all book on Rosmah – ‘The Black Rose’.

Sad end to his political career, if UMNO removes him. Will his political demise help UMNO regain public confidence? Let wait and see what happens in the next 2 weeks.Wanita UMNO must act against Raja Ropiaah? How since the Wanita UMNO head is also tainted.–Din Merican

dont write him off. He might do a backdoor deal with PR to jump ship with his followers after the election if he is dumped. Politics has many turns and twists but no honor or principles. Money and power speaks.

Removal of Najib by UMNO will be perceived by the public as a culmination of an internal power struggle…. it will not be seen as a removal of a cancerous part of the physique… so the public will still maintain a negative overall view of UMNO…

But rivals within the party will still go for the slaughter and rid him with this excuse…. and will gather to feast on his political demise… what a start to 2013… and what an end to a political career killed by greed and corruption and scandals….

Luckily I kept a few bottles of Greg Norman’s special selection for this occasion – didn’t quite believe what the Mayans had predicted for 21.12.2013…. and thus didn’t drink all of them… as my buddies had all insisted then…

What is surprising about this is that its SO OBVIOUS that the deal was done upon instruction and pressure that can only begin with Najib/Rosmah..LTAT, Boustead, Zahid Hamidi etc.all lead to Najib/Rosmah.. Its clearly done to Hush things up… The fact they don’t care its SO OBVIOUS and RISKY that it may actually flout procedures, even possibly legal, just screams that there is a degree of panic or carelessness.

It rips the mask off Najib/Rosmah for the scheming untrustworthy people that they are. Every smile and every pleansantries from them should scare the living daylights of ordinary Malaysian..

UMNO in hot soup and very certain they will not utter a word so that the people will forget .It is now become the public against umno and for sure umno will be knocked out at this coming general election.It is now proven that umno is a liability to the nation so only the people can clean up all these masses.These scenario always happen in other states controlled by umno and nothing new or extraordinary to them…

First they messed around with Felda. But that was just like a kiss and hand-holding. Next these idiots messed around with LTAT. Now is really going too far! It’s like putting the hands between the thighs. There is no turning back!

When the veterans are pissed.., all sorts of untoward things happen – and it ain’t Orgasms. Jibs is a goner. FLOM? Gone to the baker.

What is all these financial institution, i.e. LTAT (uhm, Mindef is also doing investing? This one also outsource? JPJ-AES, tepi skit) doing fondling and dabbling into real estate and property… ????

Every freakin agency, institution and bodies are into investments be it real estate, property or equity… My God… If that is the case, then become one and make it your core business…. Oppss, then what is Khazanah goin to do… Oh, yeah, forgot – sold that one already, my bad……..
Sheeesssshhh…..

Najib has done this once to many times. Look back how he cheated the voters on the Perak State government. Hope this time he is checked by
his own UMNO warlords . This PM has no moral at all in his mind is to
corrupt Malaysian with tax payers money.

Specific performance?? You want the court to do equity, you must come with clean hands. Kathy does not want to know where Deepak’s hands have gone. Deepak has been reported as being close to Rosmah, Najib’s wife.

“End of Najib? UMNO cannot keep him because of all these scandals. Wonder what Rosmah will do when Najib is no longer Prime Minister. Jual nasik lemak di kampong saja” — Gertak Singh

End of Che Mah Chot? No, Gertak. You cannot gertak Rosmah. She’s set up for life across seven generations as they say. They will never be poor again. You and I and Dato may have to sell susu lembu to earn that extra dollar to pay for a lap dance by a cloned Salma Hayek at New York’s strip mall. Well, maybe not Dato.

Now the obsession is to win back Selangor by all means. At the Christmas open house at Dataran Merdeka, the public was treated with not-so-great food and drinks. However, VIPs and invited guests have the service of Palace of the Golden Horses Hotel to attend to them. Whole kitchen together with a large team of the hotel’s staff were deployed and despatched to the Padang for this purpose. This is the height of wanton extravagance.

Next, today I read in the papers that the BR1M 2 date will be extended for more people to apply for the RM500 bribe. Najib is on the rope and I think more goodies will rain down from Putrajaya to instil a feel-good sentiment for Najib.

The chief clown in this Umno political circus has lost his arts of juggling. So too has his supporting bandit colleagues. They are all scurrying to retrieve the fallen pins/balls or whatever items they use in their acts, in the face of resentment from the audience/rakyat, at embarrasingly hopeless situations. They will be jeered off the stage.

LTAT operate more like a cooperative entity, thus no government fund is injected but derived its fund from monthly contribution from its members who’re mostly Armed Forces personnel. LTAT involved in strategic business ventures mostly defense industries, like ship building including repair and maintenance of naval warship through its giant subsidiary Boustead Heavy Industries, and in many other business ventures as similar to other trust fund like LTAH.

What will happened next??…Nobody can guess and read the mind of a politician, as they said “politics is the art of the possible”…The possibilities are many and some may strike like lightning that surprised even the biggest political pundits. The UMNO MT is a well oiled machinery through its experiences over many “sensational issues” over the years, and will definitely overcome whatever “hiccups” that may arises out of the blues.

The worst will be Jibby’s resignation as party president which unlikely to happen with the GE looming, but who knows?..the political pundits are betting heavy and might consider?? With Muhyiddin at the helm and whatever happens, the support of the people especially the majority Malays will always remained strong as the saying goes ” when the goings get tough, the tough get goings”…Thinking of other possibilities? Did someone said on other thread that the election might be postponed indefinitely due to many reasons that best answered by political trategists on the art of the mind boggling possibilities?? Hey fellas, I’m not referring to any emergency rules or of that sort…Could it be due to unforeseen circumstances? Err… or like someone getting hospitalised?, unable to perform due to sudden strange illness, then the “political Bomoh” will be summoned to diagnosed…??!! May God bless us all …Amin.

The LTAT-Deepak-Raja Ropiaah deal is just the tip of the iceberg. Have we forgotten Najib’s announcement to relocate the Sungai Besi Air Force base to Sendayan and turn the place into a commercial hub? The relocation and the development of both places will incur billions of dollars of taxpayers money and guess whose grubby hands will be there first?

I hate to agree but Mr Bean is right, it will be the dirtiest erection in Malaysia ever,don’t believe me ask Soi Lek,they’ll Viagra everything n pound our arses and as Mr bean suggest Gulbatok will be there to help finish it up.What say you Mr Bean,well at least your arse is safe coz you’re too far away…Oouch!!